Blood pressure, cholesterol keep MPs busy

THE first day in the National Assembly after the winter recess passed quietly yesterday, with a couple of questions asked by opposition Members of Parliament and the reintroduction of a few old motions which had lapsed in the previous session.

The Speaker, Theo-Ben Gurirab, announced that a company had offered to check the blood pressure and cholesterol levels of all MPs and staff of the National Assembly this week for free if they so wished. DTA President Katuutire Kaura announced he would table a motion that during future elections all presiding officers at polling stations should be drawn from all political parties participating in elections.They should be paid by Government, he proposed.All election agents and counting officers from all the political parties should also be paid by the State.Kaura also wants Government to provide transport to all political parties so that their election agents can accompany mobile polling stations.Jurie Viljoen of the Monitor Action Group (MAG) asked Justice Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana if it was not possible to amend the Combating of Rape Act to prevent withdrawal of rape cases by victims.”It happens ever so often that before courts can deal with a rape case, victims withdraw the case, because the plaintiff is either bribed, threatened or rejected by family members,” Viljoen stated.”Could it not be made imperative that all rape cases should at least be subjected to an evaluation by the Prosecutor General before they can be withdrawn?” he asked.Viljoen then peppered the Minister of Local and Regional Government with several questions regarding Henties Bay, where the Erongo Regional Electricity Distributor (RED) has built a N$1,2 million office building and increased electricity prices by 49 per cent over the past two years.He wanted to know if the increases were justified.Viljoen further asked the Minister why town councillors and other municipal officers in the country received a 30 per cent increase in housing allowances, while the regulations of the Local Authorities Act were never approved back in 2005.Viljoen further alleged that one Henties Bay town councillor had bought five low-cost plots in the town that were meant for beneficiaries of the Build Together housing project.The MAG politician also asked Minister Joel Kaapanda if he was aware that the “behaviour and functioning” of some officials at the Henties Bay municipality were “an embarrassment to the Ministry and damaging to its image”.DTA Member McHenry Venaani asked the Minister of Agriculture if some of the N$100 million drought relief announced by Government could be used to drill more boreholes in some regions and if animal fodder could be subsidised from those funds.DTA President Katuutire Kaura announced he would table a motion that during future elections all presiding officers at polling stations should be drawn from all political parties participating in elections.They should be paid by Government, he proposed.All election agents and counting officers from all the political parties should also be paid by the State.Kaura also wants Government to provide transport to all political parties so that their election agents can accompany mobile polling stations.Jurie Viljoen of the Monitor Action Group (MAG) asked Justice Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana if it was not possible to amend the Combating of Rape Act to prevent withdrawal of rape cases by victims.”It happens ever so often that before courts can deal with a rape case, victims withdraw the case, because the plaintiff is either bribed, threatened or rejected by family members,” Viljoen stated.”Could it not be made imperative that all rape cases should at least be subjected to an evaluation by the Prosecutor General before they can be withdrawn?” he asked.Viljoen then peppered the Minister of Local and Regional Government with several questions regarding Henties Bay, where the Erongo Regional Electricity Distributor (RED) has built a N$1,2 million office building and increased electricity prices by 49 per cent over the past two years.He wanted to know if the increases were justified.Viljoen further asked the Minister why town councillors and other municipal officers in the country received a 30 per cent increase in housing allowances, while the regulations of the Local Authorities Act were never approved back in 2005.Viljoen further alleged that one Henties Bay town councillor had bought five low-cost plots in the town that were meant for beneficiaries of the Build Together housing project.The MAG politician also asked Minister Joel Kaapanda if he was aware that the “behaviour and functioning” of some officials at the Henties Bay municipality were “an embarrassment to the Ministry and damaging to its image”.DTA Member McHenry Venaani asked the Minister of Agriculture if some of the N$100 million drought relief announced by Government could be used to drill more boreholes in some regions and if animal fodder could be subsidised from those funds.